Ex-Afghan President Survives Taliban Ambush
By VOA News
13 August 2009
Former Afghan President Berhanuddin Rabbani has survived a Taliban ambush in northern Afghanistan, an area that has seen a recent rise in militant attacks.
Afghan police say Taliban fighters attacked Mr. Rabbani's convoy with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire Thursday in the Ali Abad district of Kunduz province. They say no one in the convoy was hurt, but the attackers suffered casualties in a battle with bodyguards and police.
Mr. Rabbani is a supporter of Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah - a main challenger to incumbent President Hamid Karzai in elections on August 20. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on Mr. Rabbani. The militants have vowed to disrupt the vote.
In the Kunduz district of Archi, Afghan police and insurgents fought each other for a second day. Officials say eight insurgents and two policemen were killed. Militants had killed the district's police chief earlier this week.
In southern Afghanistan Wednesday, suspected Taliban militants set off three roadside bombs that killed 14 Afghan civilians and one U.S. soldier.
In one incident, a bomb struck a minivan in the Gereshk district of Helmand province Wednesday, killing 11 members of one family. Only a young girl survived. In another, a bomb blast in neighboring Kandahar province killed three boys while they were playing.
A third roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan killed the U.S. soldier. No other details of the incident were available.
U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers have been fighting to secure parts of the south ahead of next week's vote.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, Reuters and AP.
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